When David sinned with Bathsheba, he broke all of the Ten Commandments. He coveted his neighbor's wife, lived a lie, stole her, committed adultery, murdered her husband, dishonored his parents, and thus broke the remaining four Commandments by dishonoring God. Therefore, the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to reprove him (2 Samuel 12:1-14).
There is great significance in the order in which the reproof came. Nathan gave David (the shepherd of Isreal) a parable about something David could understand -- sheep. He began with the natural realm, rather than immediately exposing the king's sin. He told a story about a rich man who, instead of taking a sheep from his own flock, killed a poor man's pet lamb to feed a stranger.
David was indignant and sat up on his high throne of self-righteousness. He revealed his knowledge of the Law by declaring that the guilty party must restore fourfold and must die for his crime. Nathan then exposed the king's sin of taking another man's "lamb," saying, "You are the man . . . Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?" When David cried, "I have sinned against the Lord," the prophet then gave him grace and said, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."
Imagine if Nathan, fearful of rejection, changed things around a little and instead told David, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. However, there is something that is keeping you from enjoying this wonderful plan; it is called 'sin.'"
Imagine if he had glossed over the personal nature of David's sin with a general reference to all men having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. David's reaction may have been, "What sin are you talking about?" rather than to admit his terrible transgression. Think of it -- why should he cry, "I have sinned against the Lord" at the sound of that message? Instead, he may have, in a sincere desire to experience this "wonderful plan," admitted that he, like all men, had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
If David had not been made to tremble under the wrath of the Law, the prophet would have removed the very means of producing godly sorrow, which was so necessary for David's repentance. It is "godly sorrow" that produces repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). It was the weight of David's guilt that caused him to cry out, "I have sinned against the Lord." The Law caused him to labor and become heavy laden; it made him hunger and thirst for righteousness. It enlightened him as to the serious nature of sin as far as God was concerned.
The Function of the Law in Evangelism
Do we remove words that might offend, such as "repentance" and "hell" to make the message more acceptable, or to make ourselves acceptable to a God-hating world? God forbid that our concern should be for our own comfort, rather than for the eternal welfare of the world.
The 18th century British evangelist who founded Methodism, John Wesley, said of God's Law, "It drives us by force, rather than draws us by love. And yet love is the spring of all. It is the spirit of love which, by this painful means, tears away our confidence in the flesh, which leaves us no broken reed whereon to trust, and so constrains the sinner, stripped of all to cry out in the bitterness of his soul or groan in the depth of his heart, 'I give up every plea beside, Lord, I am damned; but thou hast died.' "
(From the Evidence Bible. go to http://www.evidencebible.com)
4 comments:
Josh,
Sounds to me like Nathan knew how to approach David carefully and effectively. Very fascinating how he broke all of the ten commandments in what seemed like one act of sin. I guess that goes to show James 2:10 as being even more powerful than before. When we do one thing wrong, it's very possible that we broke more than one commandment of God.
So Nathan first alluded to an analogy in the natural realm, and then proceeded with a personal application towards David. And it worked. David didn't have him killed immediately out of anger and guilt, instead he immediately repented of his horrific sin. Seems like David was grateful for Nathan, not bitter. There's a powerful relationship between the sinner and the messanger!
Thank God Nathan didn't change his message. He couldn't have knowing the wickedness David had done. And even after Nathan revealed the truth, David still suffered the consequences of his iniquity through his wife and future children. The outcome of which wasn't good at all!
Thank God for Nathan and messengers like him who confront sin out of love and obedience to the Lord. And thank God for the Ten Commandments which show us our true nature before God so we can truly see our need for a savior, The Savior Jesus Christ!
I thank God for you brother. Well-written and spoken.
Thanks for your comments jc#3 and tmozart. You are absolutely correct.
My compassion for sinners headed for Hell is what swallows my fears that I face every single time I hand out a tract or start a conversation with someone. It is not about us AT ALL! It is always about God and His glory. The more that we remind our selves of that the less likely we are to make sorry excuses for not witnessing to those we meet on a regular basis.
As christians we should constantly concentrate and meditate on the saving work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. The more this becomes a daily routine, the more zeal we will have for reaching the lost and the more faithful we will be to God in our lives, especially as regards preaching the gospel and making disciples.
Faith without works is dead. Let's all vow to God to make our actions back up our prayers and do the only work that will expand His Kingdom -- preaching the one true gospel. God will bring the increase, we just need to FAITHFULLY preach the word both in season and out of season.
--Josh
To be equipped, go to http://www.wayofthemaster.com
Josh thanks for the blog. Keep up the witness for Christ. - Robert J.
Robert,
Thanks for the encouragement brother. I have just recently made time again to get into it. I think God can really work through the internet these days. Things like blogs can really be evangelism tools and great instruments of teaching God's great truths laid out in Scripture.
Thanks for spending time here. I pray you will come back soon.
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